Graduate students reported elevated rates of harassment and discrimination in the campus climate survey, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Matthew Guterl said during the March 4 Graduate Student Council meeting. These findings will inform the University’s “preliminary action plan” for addressing campus climate issues, according to Guterl.
The plan will focus on groups that are facing reported harassment and discrimination at rates that exceed 10%, he added.
Over 15% of graduate and medical students who identify as Black, Hispanic or multiracial reported experiencing harassment or discrimination during their time at Brown, The Herald previously reported.
“As far as I’m concerned, personally, professionally in this office, no experience of discrimination has been acceptable,” Guterl said. But he added that Brown doesn’t have the “capacity as an institution to address each individual act of discrimination.”
Far more graduate students responded to the survey than in previous years, Guterl said. The survey logged responses from 41% of master’s students, 49% of doctorate students and 64% of medical students. Out of these responses, 76% of graduate and medical students agreed that they felt a sense of belonging at Brown, and over 80% reported that they would recommend Brown to students like them.
While 60% of graduate students said they felt comfortable expressing their political views in the classroom, many did not feel the same way about freedom of expression outside of the classroom, he added.
The GSC also discussed the upcoming safety and security assessment by external review firm Teneo.
Following Guterl’s remarks, GSC President Kevin LoGiudice ScM’21 GS asked for fifteen volunteers to serve on a graduate student focus group for the upcoming safety and security assessment. The students — who will be randomly selected by the GSC after a self-nomination process — will help Teneo conduct the review by providing context surrounding the University’s safety measures both before and after Dec. 13, LoGiudice said.
The focus group will meet with the consulting firm in early April, he added.
At April’s regular GSC meeting, graduate and master’s commencement speakers will be voted on after sharing portions of their potential speeches, LoGiudice said.
Noa Saviano is a senior staff writer covering Graduate Schools and Students. She is a freshman from New York City and plans on concentrating in Comparative Literature and Cognitive Science.
